The Wildcats were unable to secure the doubles point for just the second time all season on Saturday night, as the Fighting Irish picked up wins on courts one and two to take the early 1-0 lead in the match. Kentucky's Nils Ellefsen and Ryuji Hirooka were the lone winners for UK in the doubles, as they secured a 6-2 win on court three.

UK's Beck Pennington and Alejandro Gomez had a pair of match points on court two to give the doubles point to Kentucky, but lost both of them, and ended up losing the deciding tiebreaker.

In singles, Kentucky (5-1) won the matches on courts one, three and five to keep the match close, but the deciding factor was court six, as Notre Dame's Eddy Covalski knocked off Hirooka in three sets, 6-3, 5-6 (5), 6-4.

Hirooka battled to the end, trailing early and forcing a deciding third set after winning a second-set tiebreaker. In the third set, which was the only court playing, Hirooka broke at 2-1 to take the 3-1 lead in the set, but Covalski took five of the final six games to clinch the match.

With the win, Notre Dame (5-0) advances to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Houston, Texas, in mid-February.

Kentucky got singles wins from Jomby, Gomez and Grant Roberts, who tied the match at 3-3 and forced the deciding match on court six.

The Wildcats are back in action on Feb. 2, as Kentucky faces Notre Dame again in a regular-season match in South Bend, Ind. The action will commence at 1 p.m. ET.